Carla Bley was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she was perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill, as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other artists, including Gary Burton, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Art Farmer, Robert Wyatt, John Scofield, and her ex-husband Paul Bley. She was a pioneer in the development of independent artist-owned record labels, and recorded over two dozen albums between 1966 and 2019.
Charles Edward Haden was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. Building on the work of predecessors such as Jimmy Blanton and Charles Mingus, Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playing in jazz, evolving a style that sometimes complemented the soloist, and other times moved independently, liberating bassists from a strictly accompanying role, to allow more direct participation in group improvisation.
Michael Mantler is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music.
Escalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction", with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.
Liberation Music Orchestra is a band and jazz album by Charlie Haden released in 1970, Haden's first as a band leader.
The Ballad of the Fallen is a jazz album by bassist Charlie Haden, with arrangements by Carla Bley, recorded in November 1982 and released on ECM October the following year.
Dream Keeper is an album by bassist Charlie Haden that was recorded in 1990 and released by Blue Note Records. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance and was voted "Jazz album of the year" in Down Beat magazine's 1991 critics' poll. Haden, Carla Bley and Ray Anderson also placed first in that year's Acoustic Bass, Composer and Trombone poll categories, respectively.
Not in Our Name is a jazz album by bassist Charlie Haden, recorded in 2004 and released by Verve Records in 2005.
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.
The Outer View is an album by George Russell originally released on Riverside in 1962. The album contains performances by Russell with Garnett Brown, Paul Plummer, Don Ellis, Steve Swallow, and Pete La Roca and features the recording debut of vocalist Sheila Jordan on one track. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states that "Composer George Russell's early-'60s Riverside recordings are among his most accessible. For this set Russell and his very impressive sextet are challenged by the complex material".
Communication is the debut album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra featuring compositions by Michael Mantler and Carla Bley performed by Paul Bley, Steve Lacy, Jimmy Lyons, Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai, Fred Pirtle, Willie Ruff, Ken McIntyre, Robin Kenyatta, Bob Carducci, Kent Carter, Steve Swallow, Milford Graves, and Barry Altschul. The album was released on the Fontana label in 1965. AllMusic described it as "one of the masterpieces of creative music in the '60s".
Dinner Music is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley, recorded in 1976 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1977.
Musique Mecanique is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded in 1978 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1979.
Live! is a live album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded at the Great American Music Hall in 1981 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1982.
I Hate to Sing is a live album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded at the Great American Music Hall in 1981 combined with three tracks recorded at Grog Kill Studios in 1983 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1984.
Night-Glo is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley, with bassist Steve Swallow, recorded and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1985.
4 x 4 is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with a chamber ensemble recorded in Oslo in 1999 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2000.
Trios is an album by American composer and pianist Carla Bley with saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bass guitarist Steve Swallow, recorded in April 2013 and released on ECM later that year. This was the first occasion on which these longtime collaborators had worked as a trio since 1994's Songs with Legs.
Andando el Tiempo is an album by American composer and pianist Carla Bley with saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bass guitarist Steve Swallow released on the ECM label. Though the musicians are longtime collaborators, this is their third album as a trio and second on the ECM label. It is Bley's first complete album of new compositions in eight years and is titled after a three part meditation on addiction and recovery, inspired by a friend's struggle with alcoholism.
Life Goes On is a studio album by American composer and pianist Carla Bley recorded in May 2019 and released on ECM on February 14, 2020. The trio features saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bass guitarist Steve Swallow.
